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Thanks for those ideas, I'll make a note. I find I'm always getting funny little ideas for stuff to paint on, but somehow when I try to do it they never look right. The problem might be that because it's a new idea [to me] I don't give it time to work. So for instance if I do a portrait and it looks like an alien for 3 weeks, I have more faith that it will eventually look like a person (ideally the right person!) If I pick up a cheap gilt picture frame and decide it wants the faux gilt painting out and pictures of shells on it, if I spend 10 minutes and it looks rubbish I ditch the whole idea.
Maybe I need more patience. Or maybe I need to have left those old roof tiles where they were.
Ahhhh old roof tiles!! Those should be nice and flat! I was thinking about trying to work with some native slate that would be really irregular. It had this wonderful mix of grey and very old copper patina colors. I think you should definitely give it a try and see what happens!
I know precisely what you mean by being more likely to give up on new ideas! It's funny that we should get like that when it took us several years to learn the technigues for painting in the first place. You't think we'd eventually get it through our heads that the first few attempts most likely will look pretty lousy. I'm pretty guilty of it for sure.
I do mechanical schematics of my "inventions".Sort of a Da Vinci thang.
I also do nude females,which people also stare at for a very long time.
My sister use to scratch the silvering off of the back of mirrors to create wierd futuristic cities in "mirror and black".I have never seen this genre anywhere else.
My brother makes "funky handmade interactive pet altars". Another unique genre.(I think one of his works just sold in Tokyo for about $50K)
My other brother is the coolest interior designer,you should see his apartment.
Of course,we are descendants of several Comanche chiefs.
Maybe we could learn the greatest of all arts;War/Survival.
The kind of art I usually like to create is through words with poetry and stories. But, I also like painting, mostly with acrylics. Also, the margins of the papers in which I write are covered with doodles, so if that counts, then there's that
I think the best way to learn is to have the art teacher I had in 8th and 9th grade . He really opened my eyes to what art could be. It sounds cheesy as hell but its true haha.
Clay board caught my attention. Smith has a sale on it these days, and it is one of the few foundations I haven't tried.
Are you using all water media, or one in particular? Can it withstand lots of gel? I understand from their literature and promotions, it is capable of multiple erasures and/or removals which may work against multiple applications.
Any suggestions? Info?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tulegirl
Water media and clay board.
Great art teacher in Jr. High. Motivating art teacher in High school. Few lessons from local artists that I like.
Clay board caught my attention. Smith has a sale on it these days, and it is one of the few foundations I haven't tried.
Are you using all water media, or one in particular? Can it withstand lots of gel? I understand from their literature and promotions, it is capable of multiple erasures and/or removals which may work against multiple applications.
Any suggestions? Info?
I use water color paint, ink & acrylic on the clay board. I also use the India Ink covered boards and scratch through.
It does well with erasing of pencil marks and mopping up small unwanted paint "boo-boos". It will stain more when using inks.
It is sturdy and super easy to frame, It comes in standard sizes.
I love the effect it has. It is like working with heavy weight paper (300#), meaning that I find it has just enough resistance to the fluid to allow it to spread and then it seeps in. On my web site, The siamese cat titled "Frankie" was done on white Ampersand clay board. I couldn't be more tickled with how his eyes turned out. He was an ink/watercolor combo.
I may give it a try as I do work with watercolour and Smith is advertising the board for use with their watercolours.
Gel, is acrylic gel medium, which I use lavishly with acrylic paints. And somehow I suspect, that the boards may not work as well with acrylic based medium. But frankly I don't know. I do use crescent board with both watercolours and acrylics, with success.
I just checked your site; nice work, and I see you are using F&W inks--they are acrylic-based I believe.
I've also recently come across some pieces of slate that I think are crying out to be painted on, but I don't want to produce anything tacky or holiday-souvenir-like. I don't want to hijack the thread but if anyone has any ideas of how I could mount them nicely they'd be most welcome!
I do like painting on bits of card that would otherwise get thrown away rather than bought boards - it makes you feel like you're getting something for nothing! Of course it doesn't help the tax bill much if you then sell them.
Just a idea..Depending how thick they are why not mount on a piece of ply wood about 10%--20% larger than the piece of slate, then using black motor around the slate too the edge of the frame, and make the slate uneven on edges.
Just my 2 cents worth........
I do mechanical schematics of my "inventions".Sort of a Da Vinci thang.
I also do nude females,which people also stare at for a very long time.
My sister use to scratch the silvering off of the back of mirrors to create wierd futuristic cities in "mirror and black".I have never seen this genre anywhere else.
My brother makes "funky handmade interactive pet altars". Another unique genre.(I think one of his works just sold in Tokyo for about $50K)
My other brother is the coolest interior designer,you should see his apartment.
Of course,we are descendants of several Comanche chiefs.
Maybe we could learn the greatest of all arts;War/Survival.
Ura,Lawrence
That all sounds really interesting - I'd love to see some of the mechanical stuff. Do you have any pictures on the net? This sort of genre fascinated me for ages and I had a phase where I was really into automata and Da Vinci's sketches. Recently I tried to design an over-complicated machine for pushing plastic cups out of moulds, a bit Heath Robinson-esque (not sure why!) I saw some work by Jean Tinguely at the weekend, who creates kinetic sculptures that are really quite eerie, and I can feel the phase coming back again.
Stormcrow - this is yet another of the "new ideas" that never get off the ground with me.
I used to do life drawing and I know what you mean about people staring!
Does anyone know if you can get this in the UK? It's certainly not something I've come across at all, and internet searches just bring up building materials or US sites. It sounds interesting anyway.
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pieces of slate
Of course it doesn't help the tax bill much if you then sell them. 
